I had an amazing day today. I was so happy that the encaustic painting workshop I took was awesome and inspiring. I'm in love with this technique and can't wait to try it again. The workshop I took was a whole day affair in the sunset studio of a very talented wax artist and ceramicist named Eileen Goldenberg (blog) She's a very warm and engaging person; a supportive, informative and knowledgeable teacher; and very generous with her help and studio offerings. You couldn't take a better class! I learned so much today my head is swimming with information, ideas and most importantly — inspiration.

Eileen's wax palette had me drooling! Those gorgeous warm colors are eye candy to me. I could smear 'em on my cheeks or just grab a spoon and eat them — super delicious!

Above is the hot palette I worked from. Below is the brown dandelion ink stamp with the gorgeous smears that Max made while playing in my studio yesterday. I fell in love with it. Of course Max gave me such a hard time for wanting it and he loaded me up with rules about how I could use it. Sadly, I apparently screwed up and he was in tears when I returned home with my final piece in which I used his stamps. I just hope one day he'll like it — or at least forget all about it?!@#!

Below are the pieces I made while learning about encaustics. I'm attracted to the milky white of the clear wax and hazy dreamy depths that the layers create. I also loved collaging in images. One awesome trick Eileen showed was to print an image on tracing paper then dip it in the wax and seal. The effect is photographic yet painterly and beautifully translucent. I'm also wanting to explore the sgraffito technique. I love the results I've seen in other works, but I found it really difficult to remove the wax after filling in the channel. I need lots of practice to get it to look the way I envision it. i also need more time trying to smooth out the wax. But no matter, I had a great time trying and can't wait to wield a heat gun again.

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